Sally Sitou (Reid, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Last week I had the privilege of attending the New South Wales Australian of the Year Awards. If you ever want to be uplifted, this is the event to go to. It was a real honour to meet the nominees and hear about what inspired them to do the work that they do to make our country a better place. They looked around at what was and imagined what could be. They imagined a community where we were supporting and caring for each other. It's a message that we can all take to heart, and I want to make mention of two people in my electorate who have lived out that ethos.

Abla Kadous was named last year's New South Wales Senior Australian of the Year. Hers is a remarkable story. She moved to Australia from Egypt as a teenager, trained to be an accountant, got married and had five kids, then started volunteering with a group to shelter women and children fleeing domestic violence. Here, Abla became a champion for her community. In 1983 she helped set up Australia's first welfare service for Muslim women, the Islamic Women's Welfare Association. The group would sometimes even personally house women and children fleeing violence until alternative accommodation could be found.

Four decades later Abla is still working tirelessly for her community. The centre she helped set up all those years ago now has 50 volunteers and staff and has branched out to also provide antidiscrimination forums, school-readiness programs, cooking programs and youth camps. She says of the centre she helped set up: 'Working in this centre is my life. I have five children and they all say, "This is your sixth child." I spend nearly every day there.' How lucky we are that Abla dedicated her life to helping make our community better.

Steve Dresler, founder of What Ability, was a finalist for this year's New South Wales Young Australian of the Year award. He is an extraordinary person who turned a personal tragedy into a commitment to help others. On track to be a professional footballer for the Parramatta Eels, Steve had to retire early because of a spate of injuries. But he turned that setback into a positive by launching What Ability, an organisation on a mission to bring happiness to people with a disability by providing them opportunities to play sport, exercise and go on adventures. Steve has a vision to make Australia more inclusive. He may have missed out on his dream to play in the NRL, but we are so fortunate to have his drive to make the lives of those with disability better and more fun.

Abla and Steve represent the very best of us, and I love the fact that they both live in the electorate of Reid.

See this speech in context